The International Hydrological Decade (which ended in 1975) led to a revival of hydrological sciences to a degree which, seen in retrospect, is quite spectacular. This research programme had strong government support, no doubt due to an increased awareness of the role of water for prosperous development. Since water quality is an essential ingredient in almost all water use, there was also a considerable interest in hydrochemistry during the Decade. As many concepts in classical hydrology had to be revised during and after the Decade there was also a need for revising hydrochemistry to align it with modern hydrology. A considerable input of fresh knowledge was also made in the recent past by chemists, particularly geochemists, invaluable for understanding the processes of mineralization of natural waters. With all this in mind it seems natural to try to assemble all the present knowledge of hydrochemistry into a book and integrate it with modern hydrology as far as possible, emphasizing the dynamic features of dissolved substances in natural waters. Considering the role of water in nature for transfer of substances, this integration is essential for proper understanding of processes in all related earth sciences. The arrangement of subjects in the book is as follows. After a short introductory chapter comes a chapter on elementary chemical principles of particular use in hydrochemistry.

Autorentext
Erik Eriksson, 1937 in Stockholm geboren, begann seine Karriere als Journalist und später auch als Produzent beim Schwedischen Fernsehen. Bekannt wurde Eriksson durch seine TV-Reportagen über den Vietnamkrieg und weitere Reportagen über die Schattenseiten der schwedischen Gesellschaft. Mittlerweile hat Erik Eriksson etwa 40 Bücher veröffentlicht, darunter Sammlungen von Novellen, Jugendbücher und Kriminalromane, von denen bereits einer verfilmt wurde. 2009 erhielt Eriksson für sein Lebenswerk den Aniara-Preis des schwedischen Buchhandels.

Inhalt
1 Introduction.- 2 Principles of hydrochemistry.- 2.1 Chemical concepts.- 2.2 Physical chemistry applied to natural waters.- References.- Further reading.- 3 Chemical processes in the water cycle.- 3.1 Deposition of soluble substances by rain and snow, fog and rime, and by dry deposition.- 3.2 Processes in the root zone in groundwater recharge areas.- 3.3 Processes in the intermediate zone.- 3.4 Processes in the water saturated zone (groundwater).- 3.5 Processes in groundwater discharge areas.- 3.6 Processes in lakes and water courses.- 4 Models of reservoirs and the flux of chemical constituents in basins.- 4.1 Concepts and definitions.- 4.2 A conceptual lumped budget model for groundwater recharge areas.- 4.3 A conceptual lumped budget model for groundwater discharge areas.- 4.4 Distributed models and their limitations.- 5 Environmental isotopes in hydrology and hydrochemistry.- 5.1 Radioactive isotopes of hydrogen, carbon and chloride.- 5.2 Stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen.- 6 Applications of hydrochemistry and environmental isotopes.- 6.1 Hydrochemical monitoring.- 6.2 Chemical budgets of basins.- 6.3 Use of chloride and environmental isotopes in groundwater investigations.- 6.4 The effects of acid deposition.- Appendices.- Appendix A.- Appendix B.- Appendix C.